Derrick Rose's Olympic dream could be over --- forever

Derrick Rose will be unable to play for Team USA at the London Games this summer after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Saturday's Game 1 win against the Sixers.

Winning an Olympic gold medal has been a goal of Rose's, but he may never get the chance if what NBA Commissioner David Stern told ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd on Monday becomes a reality.

"My own view is that post-London, we should be thinking about what soccer does and make it 23 and under," Stern said.

There's an increasing sentiment that the current U.S. Olympic model isn't working. Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen both suggested players should be paid for participating. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban complained to Greg Couch of FoxSports.com last week that NBA owners allow their assets to make millions for the U.S. Olympic Committee while receiving nothing in return.

"It's the biggest mistake the NBA makes,'' Cuban told Couch. "If you look up stupid in the dictionary, you see a picture of the USA Dream Team playing for free for corporate America so the U.S. Olympic Committee can make millions of dollars. If you come up with something that you own, that you give it to me for free so I can make billions of dollars, I want it.

"And it has nothing to do with patriotism. It's all about money. You don't see the Olympic Committee saying, 'Oh we made so much money. Let's give it to people.'"

Rose is 23. The next time the Olympics roll around he'll be 27, which means he would be too old to compete for Team USA, although Bulls teammates Luol Deng (England), Joakim Noah (France) and Omer Asik (Turkey) would likely be able to participate because their countries are not expected to place an age restriction on participation.

Rose was a member of the 2010 USA World Championship team that claimed the gold medal in Istanbul, Turkey. As the starting point guard for the 2010 U.S. squad, Rose averaged 7.2 points per game, 3.2 aassists per game, and 2.1 rebouns in 23.1 minutes.

"It means a lot," Rose said when asked about making the Olympic team earlier this season. "It's an honor just to be on that team. If they choose me to be on that team I would love to play. It's a goal of mine, to win a gold medal."

Rose thought playing with so many other NBA greats would help him become an even better player and leader.

"I could learn a lot of things from those guys," he said. "With them being leaders --- I'm still trying to become a young leader for this team, being more vocal, seeing how they approach everything, how professional they are. It will help out a lot just being around those guys. Hopefully, I'll come back a better player."